by Ryan Stygar
Red Star Corporate Tower stood twenty stories high with blue-glass windows on every side. When Adam walked inside he was greeted by two Russian guards who patted him down and confiscated his Bersa Thunder.
“No weapons,” the Slav said. “Follow. You get gun back after,”
They guided him toward the large indoor pond at the center of the lobby. Like an oasis it was surrounded with jagged red stones and vibrant green plants. A waterfall which was one hundred feet wide and fifteen feet tall supplied fresh water to the artificial pond. On a balcony above the waterfall Adam could see the Red Star Steak and Seafood Restaurant. Polished brass guardrails lined the steps leading to the restaurant’s balcony. Adam’s footsteps rang hollow in the eerily empty lobby.
Adam and his Russian escort stepped onto Red Star Restaurant’s mezzanine deck. What he saw next made his heart slam to a halt in his chest. My God she’s beautiful.
“Greetings, Mr. Friend,” Viktoriya said with a warm smile. Adam could hardly breathe. The way her long blonde hair shimmered against her dress made her look like a walking glass of champagne. Her eyes were like icy blue orbs of light. Below her slender neckline, her breasts pressed delicately against the low cut of her dress. She was an angel.
“Uh… hello,” Adam stuttered. He was vaguely aware of a heavy-set man in his sixties standing beside Viktoriya, but she was so stunning that he couldn’t stop looking at her.
“I am Viktoriya, this is my father, Mikhail,” the angel said. “We are very happy to see you are alive. Please, take a seat, we will eat dinner together,”
“Darling,” Mikhail said sadly. “I am afraid I must retire. Your brother… it is just too much,” he dabbed a scripted tear from his eye and sniffled loudly.
“Of course, Papa,” Viktoriya planted a kiss on his cheek and bid him good night. She turned to look at Adam. “It is a very hard time for my family,”
“I understand, I’m sorry,” Adam said solemnly.
“Mr. Friend,” Mikhail said with a bow. He left them and took an elevator to the twentieth floor.
Viktoriya turned and beckoned Adam to follow her to a table which was prepared just for them. When they arrived, the two guards pulled out chairs for Adam and Viktoriya and then stepped away to give them some privacy. Viktoriya crossed her legs and clasped her hands in a way that made her look like a princess on a diplomatic mission. Her Russian accent was thick, much thicker than her brother’s. The slow way in which she spoke was a habit she developed so that native English speakers could understand her better, but to Adam it sounded downright seductive.
“It has been a very hard day,” she began. “Today I learned that my older brother was killed,”
“I’m sorry for your loss, really I am,”
“You were there?”
Adam nodded. He had walked into this meeting fearing for his life, but now he was too drunk on Viktoriya’s beauty to be afraid.
“How did he die?” she asked.
“He died fighting,” Adam said. “There were just too many of them,”
“Dimitri Jordan’s men?”
“Yes,”
“Monsters,” she said bitterly. She looked away from Adam and dabbed a napkin against the corner of her eyes. “Excuse me, it is an emotional time,”
Servants came to the table with light salads, lobster bisque, and wine. Viktoriya indicated that they should begin eating. After a few bites she asked how Adam survived the battle.
“Dimitri Jordan’s people wanted the book. They took it from me and cut me loose,”
“Why didn’t they kill you?”
Adam shrugged. “Maybe they thought enough people had died for one day,”
Viktoriya delicately patted her lips with a napkin. “Well, there is no sense dwelling on the past. I am sure you are wondering why I called you here tonight?”
Adam nodded. “Either you want revenge, or you want that book back. Maybe both,”
“You are smart,” she answered. “I must have revenge. Lukas was my brother, my protector, my knight in shining armor. Now he is gone. Those men must be punished,”
She reached across the table and placed a soft hand on Adam’s. “Will you help me?”
Her touch was enough to make Adam stiffen in his pants. He gulped hard and tried to say yes, but only managed an awkward smile.
“Thank you,” she said. “The book is of no concern to me now. I don’t have enough men to collect the opium even if I knew when it was arriving. This is about revenge for my brother. You are going to help me destroy Dimitri Jordan and his monstrous, evil Lieutenants,”
Adam didn’t care how crazy that sounded, he just wanted the Russian goddess to like him. “What do you need?” he asked.
Viktoriya leaned back as servants collected dishes and replaced them with the main course; filet mignon with truffles and lobster sauce. Adam hungrily dug in.
“Dimitri Jordan rules this city with fear,” she said. “People are afraid of him so they do what he says. Even the police are afraid of him. What we must do… what you must do, is help me prove that he is not invincible. We are going to take him apart piece by piece until his whole empire abandons him,”
Adam choked on his food and coughed forcefully. “Excuse me?”
“We are going to destroy him, Adam. I will give you money and information and in return you will kill the men who stole my big brother from me,”
“Look Viktoriya, I want to help, I really do. But what you’re talking about… Jordan has an army at his disposal. I can’t just –
“Are you going to leave me to fight him alone?” she interrupted. “Without you I have no one but my father, and you saw him tonight; he is just an old man. Please, Adam, I need you,”
“I want to help, it’s just…”
He looked at her and fell into a trance when her blue orbs met his eyes. She was so sad, so delicate, so fearful. He felt himself caving in. “I mean… well… Shit, I can’t just leave you alone. Ok… Ok I’ll help,”
“My hero,” she smiled.
They finished the main course and their conversation turned to more personal matters. Viktoriya told Adam about her life growing up in Russia and how she emigrated to the US to keep her brother company while he ran the opium business. After her story, Viktoriya asked about Adam; where he grew up and what his family was like. Adam was completely under her spell. For no good reason except that Viktoriya was beautiful, he told her about his daughter.
“She was born premature,” he said. “She’s underweight for her age and has some heart issues, but she’s happy and she gets along well with the other kids,”
“And her mother?”
Adam looked down. “Out of the picture. Forever,”
Viktoriya caressed his hand. “That must be so hard. Where is your little girl?”
“Here in Vegas,” Adam answered. “At a home called St. Judith’s. It takes a lot of money to keep her there. That’s how I met your brother. He hired me to do a job for him so that I could catch up on her bills,”
“Yes I heard about the motel,” she answered. “He said you were very deadly. That’s why I need you,”
The main course was replaced with a dessert of tiramisu and espresso. Viktoriya snapped her fingers and a guard appeared at her side with a tablet computer. She sipped her espresso as she laid the tablet in front of Adam and swiped through a series of pictures. A black man with tightly styled dreadlocks appeared on the screen.
“This man is Watson Lafayette. He is Dimitri Jordan’s most important Lieutenant. We will start with him,”
Adam shuddered when he realized that he recognized Watson from Club Nariphon, somehow it made all of this much more real to him. The pictures showed Watson speaking with Dimitri Jordan and going his business in different parts of the city. He was armed with a silver pistol in every single picture.
“Adam, I am willing to pay you handsomely if you can kill this man. You said your daughter is sick, yes? I want to help you take care of her. I have a plan. I just
need a strong man to do the job for me,”
Adam shifted in his seat. The seriousness of the situation had a sobering effect on him. “What’s the plan?” he asked cautiously.
“I want everyone to see this man dead. If we can hit Jordan close enough then we can cause him to lose control, when that happens it will be easier to get to him,” She swiped to a picture of a bottle service reservation with Watson’s name on it. “Watson is celebrating his birthday this weekend and he has two standing reservations in Jordan’s nightclub at the Sumatra. Jordan doesn’t allow any firearms in his nightclub, not even for his Lieutenants. Watson will be drunk, he will be unarmed, and he will never be easier to kill. This is our big chance to catch him defenseless,”
“Right in the middle of Dimitri Jordan’s hotel? That doesn’t seem risky to you?”
Viktoriya grinned. “Even the strongest castles are vulnerable, once you get past the gates. It is the place where Jordan will least expect an attack,”
Adam felt the room spin. What this woman was asking him to do was nothing short of insanity. He should have walked away, but he was powerless against her charm.
“You’ll help my little girl too?” he asked.
“Kill Watson for me and I will give you fifteen thousand dollars to care for her,”
“I need twenty to pay off all my debt…” he said sheepishly. “Even that will only enough to get me caught up on my old debt. New bills will keep piling up,”
Viktoriya had an empathetic look on her face. “You poor thing… thirty thousand then,”
Adam nodded. “Alright… I’m in,”
“You make me so happy, Adam,” she smiled. She pulled out a checkbook and began filling out a check. “I am going to give you ten thousand upfront, as a token of my gratitude. You will have the rest after Watson is dead,”
Adam’s eyes lit up at the sight of $10,000 being written next to his name. Viktoriya pushed the checkbook over to him. “Sign here to endorse it,” she said. “You can cash this right away,”
Adam quickly took the pen and scribbled his signature.
“Thank you,” he smiled.
“No, it is I who must thank you,” she replied. She pulled off the carbon paper behind the check and handed Adam his copy.
When the meal was over, Viktoriya escorted Adam to the lobby and gave Adam a kiss on the cheek when they said their goodbyes. She watched him nearly stumble over himself as he floated back to his truck – intoxicated by her kiss. When his pitiful truck sputtered away, she wiped her lips in disgust.
“How did it go?” Lukas asked as Viktoriya stepped into his room on the twentieth floor.
“Adam is handsome, but he is a weakling,” she said dismissively. “He will be there tomorrow to do as I say,”
She then handed Lukas a slip of paper.
He eyed it for a moment, then looked up at her with surprise. “Is this his signature? How did you get this?”
She made a wicked grin. “He is also very, very stupid,”
Adam waited until Red Star Tower was out of sight to pull out his phone and dial Vince.
“Adam! Are you okay man? What happened in there?”
“I’m fine… it was a woman who met me tonight. She wants me to do another job and she gave me ten grand upfront,” Adam stopped at a red light and looked back to make sure he wasn’t being followed.
“Damn,” Vince said with a long sigh.
“I know. They want me to kill one of Jordan’s guys tomorrow night,”
“Well… you’re not gonna do it, are you?”
Adam could hear the disappointment in Vince’s voice. “I have to,” he said after a while. “They’re giving me enough money to get Lily out of St. Judith’s,”
“What about the Sumatra though? Those guys will kill you if you go after them! There’s got to be another way out,”
“Look, the Russians say they have a plan and they’re offering me a way to help Lily. All Dimitri Jordan’s guys ever did was threaten me. I have to do something,”
“I don’t like it,” Vince said. “And I really don’t think killing more people is the answer to your problems,”
The light went green and Adam began accelerating through the intersection.
“If you have ideas I’m all ears,” Adam said. He caught a flash of white light growing outside his left window. “What the…?”
The Chevy Suburban slammed into Adam’s S10 with so much force that the little pickup was thrown clear across the intersection. Glass rained down on Adam’s head and the old airbags failed to deploy – causing his head to slam into his steering wheel as he went spinning. When the truck stopped moving Adam’s vision went black and he vomited across his crunched dashboard.
Footsteps. Shouting. Bright beams of light.
“It’s him! Drag him out – and be quick about it!”
“Wha…?” Adam groaned. Three pairs of hands pulled him from the wreckage.
“He’s cut up bad. We have to patch him up,”
“Do it in the car, I want him at HQ right away,”
“Who… who are you?”
Sheriff James Wyatt looked at the bloodied young man with a scowl. “I’m God, Adam Friend, and today is judgement day. Pack him up!”
33
Bellagio Hotel, 10:15pm
O fficer Brett Li tapped Sergeant Adrian Ramirez on the shoulder to wake him. The pair had been staking out the Bellagio’s grand entrance since the white Range Rovers arrived six hours earlier. Inside, Watson Lafayette and two other Lieutenants were enjoying a steak dinner and a few hands of poker at the high-roller tables. Ramirez rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked out the tinted windshield of his unmarked Dodge Charger.
“How many?” he asked, still groggy.
“Three white SUVs – all Range Rovers. Looks like three guys; one for each car,” Brett Li observed. “It seems like that pervy manager from Angels had good information. If those are Lieutenants then we just caught them each without their bodyguards,”
“I want Watson,” Ramirez said. “This score is getting settled tonight.”
“We can’t arrest him,” Li said. “We’re pushing the line pretty hard here,”
“To Hell with the line. This asshole tried to kill us and now he gets to just walk free? I refuse to work in a town where that kind of shit goes unanswered.”
Li swallowed his opinion about the matter.
Ramirez nudged him with an elbow. “Brett, I need you here. Are you with me or not?”
Brett Li took a moment to answer, but eventually nodded. Adrian Ramirez was a good cop and a good man. Despite his reservations, Li was going to stand by him.
“I’m in,” he said. “Let’s go get this guy.”
“Good,” Ramirez said. He downed the rest of his coffee and got ready to follow his quarry. Watson had crossed him one too many times and the Sumatra gang was out of control. It was high time that the law sent them a message.
They watched as Watson cracked some kind of joke and he and his friends laughed the whole way back to their vehicles. As the three white SUVs pulled away from the Bellagio, Ramirez turned the ignition and stayed behind Watson.
“Hey Adrian?” Li asked as they followed the car.
“What’s up?”
“Well, I was working on some reports this morning, you know, just getting caught up.”
“And…?”
“Everything you and I had on Watson is gone,”
“That doesn’t make sense. I filed those reports myself; I know they’re in the system.”
“I thought you’d say that. That’s why I’m worried. There’s no information on Watson Lafayette anymore, it’s all gone.”
“Was there anything about who bailed him out?”
Li shook his head. “That’s what I’m saying. Bail wouldn’t affect the charges, and even if they were dropped there would still be a record. I am telling you that everything we had on Watson is gone, it’s like he never existed.”
Ramir
ez frowned. “I smell a rat.”
“A big one,” Li agreed. “I don’t want to say what I’m thinking…”
“I will,” Ramirez said. “It’s Wyatt. It has to be.”
“That’s dangerous stuff,” Li said. “If he’s really in Dimitri Jordan’s pocket then I don’t know what we do next.”
“If he’s dirty we’ll find a way to prove it,” Adrian said as he followed the white SUV. Watson’s vehicle turned onto a smaller street and headed toward a residential district. Ramirez continued, “Right now, let’s focus and getting even with this asshole.”
“Well said.”
They followed for a few blocks. While the other two Lieutenants drove north toward the Sumatra, Watson headed east, alone. The glow of the Strip faded behind them as they drove.
“Our creepy club manager said Watson’s got a birthday celebration at the Sumatra tonight and tomorrow,” Li recounted as they followed the white SUV through a traffic light. “I don’t know why he’s off the Strip.”
“Good news for us,” Ramirez said. “The fewer witnesses the better.”
The plan was simple. Catch Watson unprotected, ram his car, beat him to a pulp, then fix it to look like he shot at the officers first. Ramirez hoped that it would be enough to send a message, perhaps even get Watson behind bars again. The plan was to make Watson out to be the aggressor so that they could avoid any disciplinary action, but even if it didn’t, Ramirez wanted Watson’s head on a stick.
“I’m gonna hit him in two blocks,” Ramirez said. “Get ready,”
Li thought he caught a glimpse of something in the rear view mirror and turned around to get a better look. He cursed under his breath when he saw the vehicle behind them.
“I think they’re on to us,” he warned.
“What? We saw the others leave…” Ramirez looked back to see what was happening. Just a few car lengths to the rear, another white Range Rover SUV was following them.
Ramirez asked, “When did he start tailing us?”
“He just turned the corner at the last light,” Li said. He saw yet another white SUV turn the corner and start following them. That put two hostile vehicles to their rear, plus one up ahead. Li didn’t like it. “How are these assholes always a step ahead of us?”